Courses
There's no other program like this. You're on the frontier of reliable innovation.
This method removes nearly all the bias you get when consultants do this work, because it's a system, not chaos. And every step is 100% auditable.
I've worked at several strategy consultancies, including one known for its Jobs-to-be-Done method. That kind of research tells you what to aim for, but it aims at the customer's experience: how they buy and use what already exists. Design thinking tells you how people feel, then leaves you guessing what to build. Lean startup tells you to ship fast and fail fast, so you learn by burning time and money.
None of them can change the underlying cost curve, because your customer can't tell you how. A passenger can't design the jet engine.
This course shows you how to build it, step by step, from first principles, with no one needed to interpret it for you. We raise the job to a higher level, just as we teach you to.
Need to move faster? Venture Proof automates this whole system.
Self-paced lessons that show you how to test a business idea by hand, one step at a time. Want help with a real decision? Book a call.
Free tools
npx skills add mikeboysen/job-map-express-skillBring one idea. Module 1 helps you cut it down to what's really true, at your own pace.
Cut any idea down until nothing else can go, then tie what's left to a real law.
These pick up right where Module 1 leaves off.
Turn your truth into one job and the one person who does it today, with no product in the sentence.
Learn to tell a job from a tool, so you see a market as people plus a job, not your product.
Check which side you're on, then trace your Module 1 truth to what can go wrong and what it costs.
List a few people your truth lands on, weigh each one, and pick the one person who does the job.
Write the job your person is trying to get done in one short line, with no product in it.
Run ten pass or fail checks on your job sentence, then score it to see how strong it is.
Score the person you picked on twelve parts to see if they're the right one.
Run one go or no-go check on your whole page, then compare it with a worked example.
Map how that person gets the job done today, step by step. Then try to break the map yourself.
See why you map how the job gets done today, not how your product would do it.
Learn the nine phases every job goes through, from figuring out what's needed to wrapping up.
Write what has to hold in each phase for the job to go well, and tie each one back to your truth.
Turn your phase truths into the steps your person takes today, with no tools named.
Find the 6 to 8 jobs around your core job and keep each one as a short side note.
Hunt for seven common faults in your map, fix them, and mark the steps you're least sure of.
Run one last check on your whole map, then sign off on it or rebuild the part that's wrong.
Put a real number on what the job costs today and the least it could cost. Then decide if the idea is worth keeping.
Ask what the job costs today and the least it could ever cost, and learn the order you'll answer it in.
Swap the one vague line under each step of your map for 10 clear measures you can count.
Score every measure with the same five questions, then keep, fix or strike each one.
Add up what one run of the job costs today, with a source for every line.
Work out what that same run would cost with all the waste gone, using only physics and rules.
Turn both sheets into one plain line anyone can check: today costs about N times the floor.
Place your ratio on five bands to see what kind of fix the gap calls for and if it clears your line.
Write down what you'll do if your ratio falls short, before you do the math.
Check how much of your savings are left once a cheaper job gets done more often.
If people give up on your job partway, count the value they leave behind. This one's optional.
Score the work behind your numbers, test your weakest figures, and get ready for Module 5.
Venture Proof. Every worksheet you fill in, lesson by lesson. Click or tap any one to see it bigger.
Previews are blurred on purpose. You get the full templates with each Module.
These come after Module 4. Join the waitlist for any module to hear when it opens. It's free.
Rate the friction on each step of your map, then talk to at least two people who do the job.
Learn the four ways to change the shape of a cost, plus the one that comes after.
Learn the 154 levers that change the shape of a cost, one group at a time.
Aim one big change at the problem your interviews confirmed, then pick a way to grow that fits.
Write down who pays, what each unit costs you, and what keeps others from copying you.
Attack your own model before anyone else does, then rule on it: keep it, fix it, or drop it.
Deliver your idea by hand to a few real buyers, and set the line that tells you to stop.
Turn your map and your hand test into a plan for what to build first, and keep it thin.
Explain your bet to a skeptic in one page, then name the one market sign that would make you stop.
Have a real decision coming? Talk it through with me first.
For leaders with a real decision coming. We test the bet and make it stronger before you spend.
A 90 minute, ask me anything session about your idea. After we talk, you get one written analysis.
Book a call. We start with your decision and the real question behind it. If I'm not the right help, I'll tell you.